Providing aggregated statistical information relating to customer representative&#39;s performance

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method for providing performance information related to a customer service representative. A processor aggregates statistical data related to customer service representatives performance. A menu is then caused to be generated and displayed indicating a plurality of menu items. Each of the plurality of menu items corresponds to one of a plurality of the work-related types of data. Additionally, displayed and processed are one or more work-related alerts in response to receiving the one or more work-related alerts.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application Ser. No.62/153,282 filed Apr. 27, 2015 which is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to support systems for customer servicerepresentatives, and more particularly, to providing call centerrepresentatives with easy access to customer related data and aggregatedstatistical information related to call center representative'sperformance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Customer service representatives are often responsible for a widevariety of tasks. In addition to being proficient in accomplishingparticular tasks like updating addresses or other status changes,providing new or updated quotes, responding to billing inquiries,cancelling and renewing services, and entering data related to thecustomer, the customer service representative is expected to be morethan cordial, pleasant, engaging and generally charming.

To support customer service representatives, each has a workstation. Thecustomer service representative relies on their workstation to providethem with information quickly in order to maintain conversational flowwith the customer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose and advantages of the below described illustratedembodiments will be set forth in and apparent from the description thatfollows. Additional advantages of the illustrated embodiments will berealized and attained by the devices, systems and methods particularlypointed out in the written description and claims hereof, as well asfrom the appended drawings.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposeof the illustrated embodiments, in one aspect, a computer-implementedmethod for providing performance information related to a customerservice representative is described in which, a processor aggregatesstatistical data related to customer service representativesperformance. A menu is then caused to be generated and displayedindicating a plurality of menu items. Each of the plurality of menuitems corresponds to one of a plurality of the work-related types ofdata. Additionally, displayed and processed are one or more work-relatedalerts in response to receiving the one or more work-related alerts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that those having ordinary skill in the art, to which the presentembodiments pertain, will more readily understand how to employ thenovel system and methods, certain illustrated embodiments thereof willbe described in detail herein-below with reference to the drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary system for streamlining customer interactions;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an embodiment of a computing device;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for providingperformance information related to a customer service representative inaccordance with an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for enhancing acustomer interaction transfer between customer service representativesin accordance with an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for makingproduct recommendations to a customer based on evaluated social mediadata in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary screen shot providing comprehensive customerservice representative performance information in accordance with anembodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary screen shot facilitating a customer interactiontransfer between customer service representatives in accordance with anembodiment of the present application; and

FIG. 8 is an exemplary screen shot for providing product recommendationsto a customer based on the customer's social media data in accordancewith an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

The below illustrated embodiments are directed to streamlining andimproving customer interactions based on analysis of all available datarelevant to the customer. It is to be appreciated that the belowillustrated embodiments are not limited in any way to what is shown, asthe illustrated embodiments described below are merely exemplary of theinvention, which can be embodied in various forms, as appreciated by oneskilled in the art. Therefore, it is to be understood that anystructural and functional details disclosed herein are not to beinterpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as arepresentative for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employthe certain illustrated embodiments.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art relating to the below illustrated embodiments. Although anymethods and materials similar or equivalent to those described hereincan also be used in the practice or testing of the below illustratedembodiments, exemplary methods and materials are now described.

It must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, thesingular forms “a”, “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise, Thus, for example, reference to “astimulus” includes a plurality of such stimuli and reference to “thesignal” includes reference to one or more signals and equivalentsthereof known to those skilled in the art.

It is to be appreciated the certain embodiments described herein may beutilized in conjunction with a software algorithm, program or coderesiding on computer useable medium having control logic for enablingexecution on a machine having a computer processor. The machinetypically includes memory storage configured to provide output fromexecution of the computer algorithm or program. As used herein, the term“software” is meant to be synonymous with any code or program that canbe executed by a processor of a host computer, regardless of whether theimplementation is in hardware, firmware or as a software computerproduct available on a disc, a memory storage device, or for downloadfrom a remote machine. The embodiments described herein include suchsoftware to implement the equations, relationships and algorithmsdescribed below. One skilled in the art will appreciate further featuresand advantages of the certain embodiments described herein, Thus thecertain embodiments are not to be understood to be limited by What hasbeen particularly shown and described, except as indicated by theappended claims.

As used herein, the term “insurance” refers to a contract between aninsurer, also known as an insurance company, and an insured, also knownas a policyholder, in which the insurer agrees to indemnify the insuredfor specified losses, costs, or damage on specified terms and conditionsin exchange of a certain premium amount paid by the insured. In atypical situation, when the insured suffers some loss for which he/shemay have insurance the insured makes an insurance claim to requestpayment for the loss. It is to be appreciated for the purpose of theembodiments illustrated herein, the insurance policy is not to beunderstood to be limited to a residential or homeowners insurancepolicy, but can be for a commercial, umbrella, and other insurancepolicies known by those skilled in the art.

As used herein, “loss related data” means data or information relatingto a loss or potential loss to insured property.

As used herein, “insured property” means a dwelling, other buildings orstructures, personal property, or business property that may be coveredby an insurance policy.

Referring to FIG. 1, a hardware diagram depicting a system 100 in whichthe processes described herein can be executed is provided for exemplarypurposes. In one embodiment, system 100 includes a server 102communicating with a representative computing device 190 across anetwork 150 with communication channels 175. The server 102 storespersonal information 104 about customers, recent activities data 106related to the customers, business rules 108 to be applied as describedherein, conversation summaries 110 that are generated, and a servicesdatabase 112, which includes information about various services andproducts a company may offer.

For exemplary purposes only, personal information 104 about customersmay include the customer's legal name, what name they preferred to becalled by, names of their family members (including former familymembers such as ex-spouses), ages for the customer and their family, howthe customer is eligible for coverage (if applicable). In addition,personal information 104 may also include individual customers' socialmedia data. Each customer's social media data may be obtained fromvarious online and/or offline sources, such as the contact list from theuser's email account(s) or messaging account(s), the online chat ordiscussion groups and forums, websites, etc.

Recent activities data 106 by the customer may include informationrelated to the customer enrolling in a service that the company offers(e.g., mortgage, automobile loan, auto/home/life insurance, banking, andcredit card), changing the settings of a service already enrolled in(e.g., raising the deductible and lowering the premium of an autoinsurance policy), calling the company to ask a question and/or discussa topic, researching information on the company's website, and/orresearching information on the internet and later visiting the company'swebsite (e.g., wherein the company's servers may glean past Internetactivities based on “cookies”).

Business rules 108 may reside in a business rules engine and may includeassociations, correlations and/or causations between (1) customer'spersonal and/or social media information and/or past activities and (2)future activities. For example, a business rule may reflect therelationship between (1) a child attaining the age of 15 and (2) addinganother member to an auto insurance policy. In another example, abusiness rule may associate (1) browsing the company's website searchingfor life insurance information and (2) the subsequent phone call to thecompany being a request to (2a) enroll in a life insurance policy, or(2b) change the settings of an existing life insurance policy. In yetanother example, a business rule may associate (1) a customer attainingretirement age and (2) the customer lowering their life insurancepremium to a lower amount.

In one embodiment, a conversation summary 110 may include synopsis ofinformation related to a series of topics discussed between the customerand the company's representative. For example, if the customer is aboutto turn 65 years old and has a child about to turn 15 years old, theconversation summary 110 may include textual summary of the discussionrelated to amendment of customer's life insurance policy, in yet anotherexample, a conversation summary may include customer representative'squestions asking about each service the customer is enrolled in and/oreach product the customer utilizes with reference being made to the mostrecent event associated with each service/product (e.g., the firstquestion may be asking if the customer wants to amend their recentlyadded home insurance policy, and the second question may be asking thecustomer about the additional member she added to her auto insurancepolicy a year ago).

The services database 112 includes information related to the customer'senrollment in any services that are offered by the company. Suchinformation may include the details of the customer's policies, thedetails of previous settings to current policies, and the details of thesettings to previous policies the customer has enrolled in. For example,if a company offers credit card services, mortgage services, bankingservices, automobile loan services, investment services, insuranceservices and housing services, the services database may includeinformation related to their customers' involvement with those services.

In various embodiments of the present invention, the company (not shownexplicitly) Q hosts a Web site to provide access for company customersto research, review, and purchase various services such as financialservices including insurance, banking, real estate, investing,retirement planning, and shopping. This Web site is the consumer frontend of the customer service representative system 100. Beyondinteraction with the company Web site, the customers can also contactcustomer service representatives by telephone, instant messaging, chatrooms and the like.

In one embodiment, representative computing device 190 may be configuredto run one or more applications, such as, but not limited to integrateddesktop application 192. According to one embodiment, integrated desktop192 facilitates customer representative's interaction with the customer.For example, integrated desktop 192 may present to the customer servicerepresentative a plurality of screens related to the customer and/orrelated to representative's performance, as discussed below.

It is to be further appreciated that computer network 150, upon whichthe embodiments described herein my interact and/or function, caninclude a local area network (LAN) and a wide area network (WAN), othernetworks such as a personal area network (PAN), or any combinationthereof. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices,enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, and the Internet. Forinstance, when used in a LAN networking environment, the system 100 isconnected to the LAN through a network interface or adapter (not shown).When used in a WAN networking environment, the computing systemenvironment typically includes a modern or other means for establishingcommunications over the WAN, such as the Internet. The modem, which maybe internal or external, may be connected to a system bus via a userinput interface, or via another appropriate mechanism. In a networkedenvironment, program modules depicted relative to the system 100, orportions thereof, may be stored in a remote memory storage device suchas storage medium. It is to be appreciated that the illustrated networkconnections of FIG. 1 are exemplary and other means of establishing acommunications link between multiple computers may be used.

Turning now to FIG. 2, illustrated therein is an exemplary embodiment ofcomputing device 200 for use in the system 100. Such a computing device200 is exemplary of how a server 102 and a representative computingdevice 190 may be configured. The following discussion is principallywith respect to the computing device 200 when functioning as the server102. The device 200 preferably includes bus 205, over which intra-devicecommunications travel. A processor 210, interface device 220, networkdevice 230, and memory 240 all communicate across the bus 205.

The term “module”/“engine” is used herein to denote a functionaloperation that may, be embodied either as a stand-alone component or asan integrated configuration of a plurality of subordinate components.Thus, “modules”/“engines” may be implemented as a single module or as aplurality of modules that operate in cooperation with one another.Moreover, although “modules”/“engines” may be described herein as beingimplemented as software, they could be implemented in any of hardware(e.g. electronic circuitry), firmware, software, or a combinationthereof.

Memory 240 is a computer-readable medium encoded with a computerprogram. Memory 240 stores data and instructions that are readable andexecutable by processor 210 for controlling the operation of processor210. Memory 240 may be implemented in random access memory 242 (RAM), anon-transitory computer readable medium, volatile or non-volatilememory, solid state storage devices, magnetic devices, hard drive 245,database 246, a read only memory (ROM), or a combination thereof.

Processor 210 is an electronic device configured of logic circuitry thatresponds to and executes instructions. Processor 210 outputs results ofan execution of the methods described herein. Alternatively, processor210 could direct the output to a remote device (not shown) via network150.

It should be understood that computing devices 200 each generallyinclude at least one processor, at least one interface, and at least onememory device coupled via buses. Computing devices 200 may be capable ofbeing coupled together, coupled to peripheral devices, and input/outputdevices. Computing devices 200 are represented in the drawings asstandalone devices, but are not limited to such, Each can be coupled toother devices in a distributed processing environment.

FIGS. 3-5 are flowcharts of operational steps of integrated desktop 192of FIG. 1 in accordance with various illustrative embodiments of thepresent invention. Before turning to description of FIGS. 3-5, it isnoted that the flow diagrams shown therein are described, by way ofexample, with reference to components shown in FIGS. 1-2, although theseoperational steps may be carried out in any system and are not limitedto the scenario shown in the aforementioned figures. Additionally, theflow diagrams in FIGS. 3-5 show examples in which operational steps arecarried out in a particular order, as indicated by the lines connectingthe blocks, but the various steps shown in these diagrams can beperformed in any order, or in any combination or sub-combination that ispracticable. It should be appreciated that in some embodiments some ofthe steps described below may be combined into a single step or omittedaltogether. In some embodiments, one or more additional steps may beincluded. The flowcharts will be explained with reference to a graphicaluser interface shown in the remaining figures (FIGS. 6, 7 and 8). Whileseveral illustrative embodiments are described herein with reference tophone interactions between a customer and a customer servicerepresentative, it should be clear that various embodiments of thepresent invention are equally applicable to “online chat”, instantmessaging, video conferencing and other forms of interaction.

The graphical user interfaces (also referred to as “screens” or“desktop”) created and used by customer service representative system100 incorporate user-friendly features and fit seamlessly with otheroperating system interfaces, that is, in a framed form having borders,multiple folders, toolbars with pull-down menus, embedded links to otherscreens and various other selectable features associated with animatedgraphical representations of depressible buttons and the like. Thesefeatures can be selected (i.e., “clicked on”) by a user via connectedmouse, keyboard, voice command or other commonly used tools forindicating a preference. FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, which are discussed in detailbelow, illustrate exemplary graphical user interfaces utilized bycustomer service representative system 100 according to variousembodiments of the present invention.

Turning to FIG. 3, illustrated therein is a flow chart explaining anexemplary method for providing performance information related to acustomer service representative in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent application. Starting at step 302, integrated desktop 192 isdisplayed on device 190 operated by a representative of a company. Inone embodiment at step 302, integrated desktop 192 collects andaggregates statistical data related to customer service representative'sperformance from server 102. After aggregating and filtering thecollected data, integrated desktop 192 preferably presents such data tousers (i.e., customer service representatives), for example, on screen600 of the graphical user interface.

The information provided in screen 600 shown in FIG. 6 assists customerservice representatives in evaluating and improving efficiency and jobperformance. Exemplary screen 600 provides quick and easy access toperformance statistics and other information via the Internet, a companyintranet or the like. The information may be both specific to a customerservice representative and general information useful for all customerservice representatives. As noted above, the customer servicerepresentative accesses integrated desktop application 192 of thecustomer service representative system 110 and, thereby, screen 600 byusing one of the client computing devices 190.

Referring again to FIG. 3, at step 304, integrated desktop 192 generatesand displays a menu that comprises a plurality of different menu itemscorresponding to different types of data. For example, referring back toFIG. 6, screen 600 includes a section 616 entitled “HomeBase.” This“HomeBase” section 616 includes a group of menu items in the form ofnavigation tabs 602 a-d for navigating between different screens. Eachscreen is configured to present a particular type of data. In thisembodiment, first tab 602 a allows access to the “My Stats” screen 600of FIG. 6. Second tab 602 b accesses an exemplary “My News” screen. Inone embodiment, the “My News” screen provides company and customerservice representative specific news information. Third tab 602 caccesses an exemplary “My Worklist” screen, which provides informationrelated to customer service representative's work list indicating worktasks to be performed by the customer service representative. The worklist may be received from a corresponding workflow system. In variousembodiments, the tasks may be assigned by a manager or entered by thecustomer service representatives to trigger follow ups and provide taskspecific reminders. Fourth tab 602 d shown in FIG. 6 accesses anexemplary “My Schedule” screen, which may provide appointments and tasksin a calendar format. In addition the “My Schedule” screen can trackcompensation time, accruable benefits, holidays and the like for thecustomer service representative.

In an embodiment of the present invention, “HomeBase” section 616 alsoincludes a performance report 604 entitled “Your Performance”.Performance report 604 contains summary information about theperformance of the customer service representative. The displayedsummary information includes at least part of the statistical dataaggregated by integrated desktop 192 in step 302. In one embodiment,performance report 604 includes data filtered in accordance with a timeperiod selected by the customer service representative, such as, but notlimited to, the previous week, week-to-date (WTD), previous month ormonth-to-date (MTD). As shown in FIG. 6, performance report 604 mayinclude a second group of user-selectable navigational tabs 606 a-c foraccessing particular subset of information related to the performance ofthe customer service representative. In one embodiment these tabs mayinclude “Open Adherence” tab 606 a, “Availability” tab 606 b and“Availability Plus Extension” tab 606 c.

In response to the selection of the “Open Adherence” report tab 606 a,integrated desktop 192 displays open adherence information asillustrated in FIG. 6. In one embodiment, open adherence may comprisethe amount of time that a customer service representative is availableand ready to accept service calls during the selected time period inwhich the customer service representative is supposed to be taking suchcalls. In this embodiment the open adherence information includes agauge element 618 indicating the adherence level. For instance, thegauge element 618 depicted in FIG. 6 indicates that the open adherencepercentage for this customer service representative is approximately89%, In a similar manner, in response to the selection of “Availability”report tab 606 b and “Availability Plus Extension” report tab 606 c,integrated desktop 192 displays customer service representative'savailability and “availability plus extension” information,respectively, not shown in FIG. 6.

In an illustrative embodiment, performance report 604 may also containreferrals information 608 which may also be shown in a graphical form.In one embodiment, the referrals information is shown as visualinformation resembling a bar chart or other types of graphs. The visualformat of the performance data may take on many forms and must beconsumable by the Customer Service Representative. According to anembodiment of the present invention, integrated desktop 192 furtherincludes an integrated “soft” phone. The soft phone is integrated withthe desktop 192 to allow customer service representatives control callsand review information related to these calls. Accordingly, performancereport 604 may further contain a section 610 indicative of customerservice representatives' call statistics. Such call statistics may alsobe presented in a graphical form and may include, without limitation,representative's average talk time, average idle time, average holdtime, and the like.

In addition to the soft phone, integrated desktop 192 may be integratedwith an alert engine. The alert engine may be configured to send variousalerts and notifications to customer service representatives while theywork. For example, the alert engine may be configured to provide variousreminders associated with customer service representative's scheduleinformation. Referring again to FIG. 3, at step 306, integrated desktop192 periodically checks if there are any work-related alerts receivedfrom the alert engine. In response to determining that at least onealert has been received, integrated desktop 912 presents at least someof such alerts/reminders in an informational bar 612 of the “HomeBase”screen 600 at step 308. For example, the alert presented in FIG. 6reminds the representative that a break is scheduled in about 15minutes.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 7, one or more embodiments of the presentinvention contemplate that at any time in the process of interactionwith a customer, responsibility for the customer interaction as well asa screen that may include the customer's information and/or theconversation summary may be transferred from one representative toanother representative. FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplarymethod for enhancing a customer interaction transfer between customerservice representatives in accordance with an embodiment of the presentapplication. At step 402, a desktop and/or interface, such as integrateddesktop 192, is displayed and/or communicated to a representative, forexample via computing device 190. Integrated desktop 192 may present ascreen that may include customer information that identifies and/orrelates to a first representative handling the interaction with thecustomer. Furthermore, at step 402, after the first representativecommences an interaction with the customer, integrated desktop 192 maystart monitoring such interaction.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the original screenpresented to the first representative by integrated desktop 192 in step402 may include a button to transfer the interaction to another partywithin the company. For example, if the customer requests specificdetails about life insurance policies in the customer's state ofresidence, the call may be transferred to a specialist (referred tohereinafter as a second customer service representative) that isfamiliar with the questions and/or issues that the customer may present.Accordingly, at step 404, integrated desktop 192 may check whether acall transfer was requested by the first representative handling theinteraction. In one embodiment, integrated desktop 192 determines atstep 404 if the transfer button was pressed by the first representative.

As indicated above, it is contemplated that during a customerinteraction transfer between the first and second representativescertain information such as customer's information, conversation summaryand/or customer's disposition towards the second representative'sproduct specialty, may be transferred from one representative to anotherrepresentative. According to an embodiment of the present invention, inresponse to determining that the transfer button has been pressed by thefirst representative (decision block 404, “yes” branch), at step 406,integrated desktop 192 generates a conversation summary corresponding tofirst representative's interaction with the customer. The generatedsummary may include conversation details and a reason the interactionwas transferred to the second representative, for example. Theconversation summary generated by integrated desktop 192 at step 406 isdiscussed below with reference to FIG. 7.

In one embodiment of the present invention, in response to a receivedtransfer request, at step 408, integrated desktop 192 determines whetherthe second representative (i.e., a specialist familiar with the issuesthat the customer may present) is available. For example, the soft phoneintegrated with the desktop 192 may maintain a list of availablerepresentatives ready to handle a customer interaction. If integrateddesktop 192 determines that the requested specialist is not available(decision 408, “no” branch), instead of transferring the interaction,integrated desktop 192 may prompt the first representative to offer thecustomer a scheduled callback time. If the customer is interested, atstep 416, integrated desktop 192 may schedule such callback. In oneembodiment, the scheduled callback may be associated with one or moretime periods.

In response to determining that the second representative is available(decision block 408, “yes” branch), at step 410, integrated desktop 192automatically performs the interaction transfer at step 410. In oneembodiment, this step may be accomplished by a specific communicationprotocol between respective instances of the integrated desktop 192running at respective first and second representative's devices 190.Further, if the interaction comprises a phone call, it is contemplatedherein that the second representative may first be conferenced into thephone call, and after an introduction is made, the first representativemay exit the phone call.

Next, at step 412, integrated desktop 192 presents customer'sinformation along with the conversation summary generated at step 406 tothe second representative, Referring now to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 illustratesat least a portion of an interaction transfer screen 700 presented to atleast the second customer service representative during an interactiontransfer. It is noted that in some embodiments, interaction transferscreen 700 may be automatically provided by integrated desktop 192 toboth of the involved customer service representatives upon selection ofthe call transfer option.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, interaction transfer screen 700 providesrelevant personal information about the customer. For example, anexemplary screen shot shown in FIG. 7 is for a customer named VanessaMartinez. Furthermore, interaction transfer screen 700 providescustomer's permanent address in a first section 702, In addition,interaction transfer screen 700 includes information enabling the secondrepresentative to determine the customer's status, last prompt, recentactivities and the reason why the interaction is being transferred. Inthe embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7 such information includes a reasonfor transfer section 704, last interaction summary section 710 andconversational status (e.g., last call activity) section 712.

It is noted that in some embodiments, prior to transferring theinteraction, the first representative may enter information associatedwith one or more personal events (related to the customer). For example,assume that the second representative is a financial adviser.Interaction transfer screen 700 illustrated in FIG. 7 depicts a scenariowhere a customer desires to discuss a financial life plan with anadvisor based on a life event 706 (received large inheritance) as areason for transfer 704. In some embodiments, the conversational status712 of previous interaction may include information indicative ofcustomer's sentiment and level of interest towards one or more company'sproducts or service based on the first representative's assessment.Summary section 710 may include information generated by integrateddesktop 192 step 406 described above. By reviewing the informationpresented on interaction transfer screen 700, the second customerservice representative is better able to have a productive, efficientand smooth dialogue with the customer. It is envisioned that the secondcustomer service representative gleens available cues from interactiontransfer screen 700 to form her/his expectations for the upcominginteraction with the customer. Additionally, interaction transfer screen700 may include a button (not shown in FIG. 7) to transfer theinteraction yet to another party within the company. At least in somecases, based on further discussion with the customer, the secondrepresentative provides a recommendation and/or guidance with respect toone or more products or services provided by the company. In oneembodiment, referring again to FIG. 4, at step 414, integrated desktop192 assists the second representative with her recommendation byautomatically evaluating customer's social media data, as describedbelow.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 8, FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating anexemplary method for making product recommendations to a customer basedon evaluated social media data in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention, while FIG. 8 is a corresponding screen shot that maybe shown to a service representative by integrated desktop 192. Startingwith FIG. 5, at step 502, integrated desktop 192 may optionally retrievecustomer's profile from the server 102. In one embodiment, customer'sprofile may be stored along with personal information 104. As previouslyindicated, personal information 104 may include individual customers'social media data. Each customer's social media data may be obtained(with customer's permission) from various online and/or offline sources,such as the contact list from the user's email account(s), messagingaccount(s), social network account(s), the online chat or discussiongroups and forums, websites, etc.

At step 504, integrated desktop 192 filters the social media data toidentify at least one social data item that is related to one or morecompany provided products or services. In one embodiment, integrateddesktop 192 may include and/or otherwise cooperate with a filteringengine (not shown in FIG. 1), According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, the filtering engine uses techniques well-known in the art torefine the raw social media data into a reduced data set that containsthe expected most useful information, aligned, for example, bytimestamps into time periods of life events. At step 506, integrateddesktop 192 may use data mining techniques to identify the specificsocial data items (i.e., life events, interests, etc.) that may relateto the one or more products or services. It is contemplated that at step506 integrated desktop 192 also utilizes a correlation mechanism thatapplies a plurality of predefined business rules 108 (resident, forexample, in a business rules engine) to the identified social data itemsto identify a set of solutions, products and services of the companythat best address customers' needs.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, at step 508,integrated desktop 192 further formulates a suggested recommendationand/or solution and presents such suggestion to a servicerepresentative. In one embodiment, integrated desktop 192 may presentthe recommendation via an exemplary recommendation screen 800 shown inFIG. 8. In various embodiments, recommendation screen 800 may beintegrated into previous screens discussed herein or may be presented aspart of a separate screen. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8,recommendation screen 800 includes information obtained from customer'sprofile and/or social media data. For example, such information mayinclude, but not limited to, personal information 802, familyinformation 806, product preference information 808, interestsinformation 812, and the like. In one embodiment, customers' personalinformation 802 may include their name, permanent address, occupation,and the like. The provided family information 806 may include basicinformation (i.e., name and age) of customer's immediate family members.In one embodiment, information presented in the interests 812 and/orpreferences 808 sections may be based on social media data itemsidentified by integrated desktop 192 at step 504 described above. Insome embodiments, recommendation screen 800 may optionally include anotes section 804 and a local events section 810. Notes informationsection 804 may provide various notes recorded by the servicerepresentatives engaged in the current or previous interactions with thecustomer. Local events section 810 may contain information about currentlocal events associated with customer's interest and happening nearcustomer's home or business. It is noted that integrated desktop 192 maydetermine location of customer's home or business based on customer'sprofile information, for example. In various embodiments, integrateddesktop 192 may obtain information related to local events from a localnews search engine, the Internet or other sources integrated with thedesktop 192. It is further noted that the recommendation generated byintegrated desktop 192 may be presented as a separate pop-up window oras another section of recommendation screen 800. Advantageously, byreviewing the information presented on recommendation screen 800, thecustomer service representative is enabled to discuss the customer'sneeds in view of their current life situation.

By discussing the customer's needs in view of their current lifesituation, the customer service representative guides the customer in adiscussion of recommended solutions, options and opportunities. Becauseof the assistance of integrated desktop program 192 running on system100, the customer service representative helps the customer thinkthrough concerns and possible objections. By making the customer feelempowered to decide on the course of action, the customer is willing andlikely to select solutions, products and services of the company thatbest address their needs and aspirations. Furthermore, by evaluatingcustomer's social media data, integrated desktop 192 helps the customerservice representative see a global view for the customer and respondwhen the customer requests assistance. By asking questions to make surethat the customer service representative truly understands the needs ofthe customer, a shared understanding of the requests and needs isaccomplished. From this point, the customer and the customer servicerepresentative can engage in detailed tactical work, still within theintegrated desktop 192, to bring provided recommendations to fruitionand tasks to completion. Referring back to FIG. 5, at step 510, thecustomer service representative may obtain customer's sentiment towardsthe recommended solutions, products and services of the company whichmay be saved and utilized by integrated desktop 192 during futureanalysis of customer's needs.

It is to be appreciated that additional illustrated embodiments include,in addition to showing statistical data regarding customer servicerepresentative performance, generating and providing coaching type ofassistance, information and advice to a customer service representative,preferably contingent upon the performance data gathered for thatcustomer service representative. For instance, this is particularlyadvantageous with the scenario when a representative is behind on theirgoals (beyond just alerts), It is noted the aforesaid informationprovided may encompass quick coaching tips and links to deepermaterials, online training courses and resource materials.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer server configured to generate aGraphical User Interface (GUI) for enhancing a call transfer between afirst customer service representative and a second customer servicerepresentative regarding a customer, comprising: a memory for storinginformation relating to a customer and information relating to priorinteractions between the customer and a customer service representative;a processor coupled to the memory and networked coupled to the customer,the processor being instructed to: generate, by the processorautomatically and without human intervention, a conversation summarybetween a first customer service representative and the customerregarding a current telephonic interaction between the customer and thefirst customer service representative wherein the generated conversationsummary includes identification of, based upon one or more businessrules, at least one life event relating to the customer discussed in thecurrent telephonic interaction between the customer and the firstcustomer service representative; store the conversation summary in thememory; transfer the telephonic interaction from the first customerservice representative to a second customer service representative inresponse to the customer's selection; generate a GUI having a pluralityof sections on a single screen including: 1) the processor generatedtelephonic conversation summary retrieved from the memory regarding thediscussion between the first customer service representative and thecustomer indicating the reason for transfer; 2) the at least onedetermined life event relating to the customer discussed in the currenttelephonic interaction between the customer and the first customerservice representative; and 3) a summary of a previous interactionrelative to the current interaction involving the customer including: a)a length of time for the previous interaction; b) a mood of the customerduring the previous interaction; and c) a reason for the previousinteraction based at least in part on a received personal event relatedto the customer; and display the generated GUI to both the first andsecond customer representatives to facilitate transfer of the customertelephonic conversation from the first customer representative to thesecond customer service representative.
 2. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the reason includes customer's sentimenttowards the one or more company products.
 3. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the displayed summary includes informationrelated to the first customer service representative.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein transferring thetelephonic interaction from the first customer service representative tothe second customer service representative comprises scheduling acallback in response to determining that the second customer servicerepresentative is not available to handle a telephonic interaction withthe customer.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein thescheduled callback is associated with one or more time periods.
 6. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the displayed summaryincludes customer history information.
 7. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the summary is displayed in an integrateddesktop on a device associated with the second customer representative.8. A computer server configured to generate a Graphical User Interface(GUI) for enhancing a call transfer between a first customer servicerepresentative and a second customer service representative regarding acustomer, comprising: a memory for storing information relating to acustomer and information relating to prior interactions between thecustomer and a customer service representative; a processor coupled tothe memory and networked coupled to the customer, the processor beinginstructed to: generate, by the processor automatically and withouthuman intervention, a conversation summary between a first customerservice representative and the customer regarding a current telephonicinteraction between the customer and the first customer servicerepresentative wherein the generated conversation summary includesidentification of, based upon one or more business rules, at least onelife event relating to the customer discussed in the current telephonicinteraction between the customer and the first customer servicerepresentative; store the conversation summary in the memory; transferthe telephonic interaction from the first customer servicerepresentative to a second customer service representative in responseto the customer's selection wherein transferring the telephonicinteraction from the first customer service representative to the secondcustomer service representative includes scheduling a callback inresponse to determining that the second customer service representativeis not available to handle a telephonic interaction with the customer;generate a GUI having a plurality of sections on a single screenincluding: 1) the processor generated telephonic conversation summaryretrieved from the memory regarding the discussion between the firstcustomer service representative and the customer indicating the reasonfor transfer; 2) the at least one determined life event relating to thecustomer discussed in the current telephonic interaction between thecustomer and the first customer service representative; and 3) a summaryof a previous interaction relative to the current interaction involvingthe customer including: a) a length of time for the previousinteraction; b) a mood of the customer during the previous interaction;and c) a reason for the previous interaction; and display the generatedGUI to both the first and second customer representatives to facilitatetransfer of the customer telephonic conversation from the first customerrepresentative to the second customer service representative.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the reason includescustomer's sentiment towards the one or more company products.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the reason is based atleast in part on a received personal event related to the customer. 11.The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the displayedsummary includes information related to the first customer servicerepresentative.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, whereinthe scheduled callback is associated with one or more time periods. 13.The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the displayedsummary includes customer history information.
 14. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the summary is displayedin an integrated desktop on a device associated with the second customerrepresentative.